April 03, 2012

Backyard Visitor

Just outside our kitchen door, where we have two planters that hang off our back staircase, a bird had made itself at home, right in the middle of our chive plant.

Barrelling out the backdoor, unaware that we had a new resident, we and the bird startled each other. She took off, revealing a nice surprise.

Eggs and chives -- perfect! (Just kidding.)

A beautiful little egg! The bird soon returned to her post and sat diligently on the egg. For a day, we kept peeking at her to see if she was still there.

We see you, Chive Bird.

We went online and researched how long our visitor might be with us, and we were prepared to go without chives for several weeks.

But then on Sunday afternoon, we returned home to find that both the bird and the egg were gone.

Did a predator snatch the egg? Possibly, but it's up a spiral staircase on a second-story landing. And there wasn't any sign of a struggle. Did the mother bird move the egg? Maybe. (But do birds even do that?)